


Ten Minutes to Tea Time

by saphirehope



Category: My Mad Fat Diary
Genre: First Meetings, Mental Institutions
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-10-21
Updated: 2016-10-21
Packaged: 2018-08-23 17:09:30
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,037
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8335672
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/saphirehope/pseuds/saphirehope
Summary: Rae is new and unhappy. Tixy is just unhappy in general.





	

Tears streamed down Rae’s face as she rushed into a bathroom near the center of the compound. Upon seeing it’s vacancy she finally let out an audible cry. It soon turned into a shaking sob as she ran into a stall and slammed the door shut. The sides of the stalls shook with the ultimate amount of force she had put behind it. Rae didn’t care, though. In fact, she found the slight buzzing shake of the walls calming as she plopped down on the toilet. Rae ran her hands down her face over and over again, as if eventually she would wipe away this scene from her vision and be home, or dead. She didn’t care which one. Anywhere but where she was would be fine.

  
Rae’s body was wracked with sobs as she experienced her first real time alone in weeks. It was the first time that she was let to think about everything by herself, with no one telling her what the right thing to think was. The events of the past few weeks, and especially what had led to them, came back to her in sharp clarity. It was bollocks. I am bollocks. This place is bollocks. Everything is bollocks. How in the hell am I going to get by here?

“Tissue?”

Rae jumped and clutched the sides of the stall as she tried to get away from the sudden, disembodied voice. A small yelp escaped her.

“I’m sorry! I didn’t mean to startle you,” apologized the young, sweet voice, “I just didn’t like hearing you sad like that.”

Only then did Rae notice the wrist crooked in the little opening at the bottom of the stall. It offered a tissue, what was really no more than some toilet paper. She hesitated, but then cautiously

reached down and took the tissue. She used it to dry her eyes and then blow her nose, finally discarding it in the stall waste basket. “Thanks,” she muttered.

Silence lingered in the air for a second until the voice spoke up again, “You know if you slam that door to hard the hinges come loose. That’s why I stay in this one. It’s warmer over here too.”

“Nice to know I am aiding in the natural selection of loo doors.” Rae laughed at the oddity of the banter. It felt excruciatingly normal.

“Ha ha,” the voice’s halfhearted laughter made the corner’s of Rae’s mouth tweak, “You’re funny. What’s your name?”

“Rae.”

“Rae? Are you new? I don’t think I have met you before.”

“Yeah. I’m new,” Rae grumbled. Don’t remind me.

“Well, welcome Rae.”

There was a paused while Rae waited for the voice to speak again, maybe introduce itself, but it did not. Rae sighed, “And what about you? Do you have a name?”

“Oh yeah! Sorry. I don’t get many visitors in here. Surprised I still know how to speak proper. I’m Tix. Tixy if you prefer. My mum used to call me that,” there was a sudden, grim pause.

Rae didn’t notice. Her head was to busy swimming with her own woe.

They sat like that for a minute until Tix finally spoke up, “It get’s better you know?”

“What?” Rae shook the thought creeping into her mind and focused on the young voice on the other side of the wall.

“The mental ward. The people. The therapy. Everything.” Rae could just imagine her nodding in agreement with her own words, “It is hard at first, but that’s to be expected. It gets a lot better. Take it from someone who’s been here a while.”

Rae considered the last sentence. She wondered how long Tix had been there. What was the standard amount of time for people staying here? Rae didn’t even know how long she was going to be there. Weeks? Months? Years?

Rae quickly brought up a new conversation before she could start hyperventilating, “So, Tixy, why are you hiding in here, if it gets all better like you say it does?”

“Because I’m fat.”

Rae let out a short and surprised laugh, “Well I understand that, I suppose.” The answer Tix had given was so instantaneous and strange. Rae looked down at her own body. At sixteen and a half stones she was no supermodel, but even she didn’t hide away. Rae was suddenly interested in seeing Tix.

“No, I’m super bad. I exercise a lot and watch my calories, but it doesn’t seem to help.” Tix sounded defeated.

“You can’t be that bad. How many stones do you even weigh?” The moment the question left Rae’s mouth she regretted it.

Tix paused for a long time and then whispered, “Too many.”

“What was that?” Rae asked.

No answer.

“Hey. As much as I like hanging out in the loo all day, isn’t it almost tea time. I’m starved. Let’s go, okay?”

There was a pause and Rae didn’t think Tix would even respond but she eventually did, “It is that time.”

The sound of Tix opening up her stall door prompted Rae to jump up and do the same. Stepping out of the stall, Rae’s eyes shifted to the right, and she caught her first glimpse of Tix. Or she did after she searched the empty air for a few seconds in then looked down in understanding. Rae was easily a foot taller then Tix. Not to say the girl was abnormally short, Rae just stood tall- almost six feet. Another thing Rae noted, Tix was skinny. Rae bet she could wrap one hand round her waist and spin her around like a baton if she truly wished.

Rae couldn’t hold back a scoff, “If you’re a fatty, then call me skinny!”

Tix looked up, and only when the younger girl raised her head did Rae notice her eyes. They pierced into her soul with a bright blue. It was an unnatural, haunting color. A look of uncertainty flashed in those eyes as they scanned Rae, but soon they were squinting in happiness as Tix’s pursed lips turned into a large grin, “Okay Skinny! A fitting name for you.”

“Obviously Fatty.” Rae shot back. She wondered if the word hurt the petite girl. If it did, she didn’t show it.


End file.
